Just Friends
by Barb1
Summary: It is five years since she graduated from Hogwarts and Hermione has fled to America for reasons only Harry understands. When Ron comes bursting back into her life Hermione has a hard time convincing him that she and Harry are just friends. HRR Please Revi
1. Default Chapter

Amanda watched her friend cross the room and she wondered if the mystery was finally going to be solved.

Her friend Hannah was walking from desk to desk in their company's 'war room', where most of the employees resided without even the benefit of a cubicle, slapping contracts into in-boxes with increased vigor. It had everything to do, Amanda knew, with the tall red headed young man trailing behind her, arguing to her back. Despite Hannah's best efforts to ignore him she slapped her workload with increased intensity with each passing desk, startling each coworker she passed.

Amanda had been waiting for this, really, ever since earlier in the week when she and Hannah had been standing by the copier in the main lobby chatting. They had been chatting until Hannah stopped abruptly in mid sentence to jolt her head sideways at the receptionist's desk. She'd heard the man at the desk arguing with Rose, the receptionist.

"I repeat," Rose said exasperated. "There is no one who works here by the name of Hermione Grainger."

He was tall, with vivid red hair and a lanky frame. When he spoke it was with an English accent that seemed to get squeakier as he got more agitated.

"I have it on very good authority that she is here," he insisted.

But Amanda was less interested in what they were saying then in Hannah's reaction to it. Every ounce of blood in her face seemed to have drained to her feet as she stared at the young man.

"Hannah?"

And then the copier started shooting sparks behind them. Hannah didn't seem to notice. In fact, it looked as though she didn't seem to notice anything else in the world except the red-haired fellow at the desk. She took a step toward him at the time Rose was threatening to call security.

"Hello, Ron." She said quietly.

The young man jerked his head up at the sound of Hannah's voice. He had almost the same reaction to her as she had to him. The receptionist started to babble some sort of apology but he walked away from her as if her existence didn't matter to his universe any more.

"Hermione?"

Amanda, also completely forgotten, watched as Hannah's back stiffened at the name.

"I haven't gone by Hermione in some time," she replied.

But he was busy looking her up and down with mouth hanging open in astonishment.

"You've changed," he finally muttered, which seemed strange to Amanda. She'd worked with Hannah for the better part of three years and she looked the same to her as the day they met. Glossy brown hair that she mostly kept in a knot at the back of her head, soft brown eyes, always sharply dressed, always professional.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Hannah replied sharply.

The young man, Ron, seemed to realize he'd insulted her and he gave his head a shake to get back on track.

"I mean, you look really good, and you have an accent now."

She seemed more agitated the longer he talked.

"Why are you here?"

That shook him out of his wonderment. He straightened his back and his expression immediately sobered.

"I need you. Uh, we need you. You know—"

Hannah tossed her head and abruptly headed back toward her office.

"What could I possibly do?" She said. "I have not been involved in that world in some time."

She reached her door when he said: "Harry needs you."

That stopped her dead in her tracks. Behind her Ron was standing looking like every muscle in his body was tensed, waiting for her answer.

"What do you need?" Hannah finally replied but instead of looking pleased he looked like he wanted to put his fist through a wall.

The week that followed had just been bizarre.

Hannah was known to be intensely private. Amanda had asked her to join she and her coworkers for lunch and other events for nearly a year before she ever excepted. But Amanda had kept asking because there was always this sadness and loneliness to Hannah that surrounded her like a cape. And when Hannah did go out with them she always seemed to have a good time but she never volunteered information about herself and above all, she never talked about her past. There were bets on how she was in the witness protection program that didn't seem quite so silly when Ron showed up.

He came to work with her every morning, despite the fact that she looked intensely miserable because of it. He followed her wherever she went in the office and whenever he spoke she usually shushed him when someone else was around. People could hear arguing from her office almost constantly and Hannah would get extremely agitated when he would call her by some strange name. Her usually pleasant attitude turned to strained and withdrawn and whenever anyone was bold enough to ask her who Ron was she'd snap: "an old friend from school" and no one asked any more.

But as Amanda watched her crossing the war room she was pretty sure that Hannah had finally reached her limit. And sure enough, not two seconds after the thought crossed her mind Hannah swung around on Ron and just lost it.

"I'm disloyal?" She shouted loud enough for everyone in the room to stop what they were doing and watch what was going on. "Don't you dare."

"You should have stayed," Ron shouted back.

"How could I?" She said, and the contracts in her hands slipped out of her hands into a pile on the floor. "You broke my heart into a thousand pieces!"

Ahhh, Amanda thought. _Mystery solved_.

"I broke your heart?!" He shouted back, appalled. "You fell in love with my best friend!"

Far from being taken aback or looking shocked Hannah rolled her eyes. Oddly, the papers at her feet started to swirl around her feet like they were caught in a small whirlwind.

"Not this again."

"You can't possibly deny it. Not now."

"Ron, you and Harry were the best friends that I ever had. I loved you both. But I never felt about Harry the way I felt about you. You were the only bloody prat that didn't believe it." When Ron opened his mouth to reply she shook her head and in her anger she started slipping back into the English accent that she thought she'd banished. "And if I was so madly in love with Harry then why didn't I just run into his arms when you chucked me out? No, I left the bloody country!"

She was shaking with anger as she stomped across the paper on the floor that had stopped it's strange swirling. She had just reached the door when the lights flickered.

"I know about Jamie," Ron said in a voice that didn't sound like his own.

And Hannah stopped where she stood and it felt as though the world went completely silent.


	2. Jamie

When Harry visited Hermione in her new life in America four years earlier she heard his voice in the hall and she instantly recognized it. She flew out into the reception area to meet him and she nearly knocked him over when she flung her arms around him.

As she hugged him she could feel the weariness in him, the strain in the muscles in his back, the weight of the world on his shoulders.

When they had graduated from Hogwart's she could not have imagined how their lives would turn out. At the end of their seventh year she had an amazing life ahead of her. But then Ron broke up with her and it touched everything in her life. She was supposed to be roommates with Ginny. She was going to begin a job at the Ministry with Mr. Weasley. Harry was her best friend but also Ron's.

Ron hadn't just broken her heart he had shattered her world. And so when her parents moved to America to be closer to her mother's sister instead of staying behind like she originally planned she went with them. Because suddenly leaving felt much better then staying.

She and Harry did stay in touch and through him she did what she could to help the effort against the remaining Death Eaters that Harry and the other Aurors fought. Mostly through research but she found the American resources rather limited compared to what she had back home. When Harry showed up it was a surprise but not entirely unexpected. In the year she'd been gone the Death Eaters were falling but they were not going quietly. Harry had been on the trail of Draco Malfoy when they had been ambushed and Tonks had been killed. Like every other death Harry had witnessed he took it like a physical blow. For the first time he understood the need to distance himself and so he went to visit Hermione.

It had been a wonderful, comfortable, uncomplicated week for the both of them. And on the night before Harry was to leave she took him to a wizard pub where they enjoyed more then just butterbeers. They weren't exactly drunk when they got back to her apartment, more like extremely happy. They were both laughing rather loudly when they plopped on her couch after sharing fond memories of Tonks.

"You should have seen Ron's face when she told me I'd look good in pink hair," Hermione laughed.

"I can imagine," Harry replied. It was the first time either of them had mentioned Ron the entire week.

Hermione turned and looked at Harry.

"So, how is he?" She asked.

"Good, " he replied. "He really is a brilliant Auror."

She nodded.

"So is he seeing anyone?" She asked casually.

Harry shook his head and she let out a breath that she didn't realize she'd been holding in.

"Are you?" Harry asked.

At that she laughed.

"No."

Harry shook his head.

"You know you are both pathetic."

"What?" She said, sitting up.

"Both of you are lonely and miserable and only want each other but neither of you will do anything about it."

"Harry, you were there. Nothing I would say made the slightest bit of difference."

"And then you left."

That seemed to deflate her anger. She slid back down on the couch next to him.

"And then I left. Do you think it would have made a difference if I'd stayed?"

Harry shrugged. "Anything has got to be better then the state you're both in now."

Hermione sighed.

"You know I always planned on going back. I just couldn't stay back then. Everything was a reminder of him."

Harry turned and looked at her.

"So come home."

She looked him in the eyes and asked: "Do you think it was cowardly to leave like that, with everything going on with the Death Eaters, simply because my heart was broken?"

"There was nothing simple about it," he replied. "And things happen for a reason. You've been an excellent resource over here, Hermione, you know that."

She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"But not nearly as helpful if I went back."

"Think that highly of yourself do you?"

She punched him playfully and continued.

"I just don't know if I'm ready to go back. I still feel—raw."

He rubbed her arm.

"That seems to be going around."

She sat up and looked at him.

"Oh Harry, I'm a thoughtless git."

He blinked at her in surprise.

"Here I am going on about my petty life while you have seen so much. Lost so much—"

"No," he said quickly. "It's kind of nice, actually. Talking about something other then Death Eaters and curses and the Order. It feels really good to be here."

She looked in his eyes and smiled.

"It feels really good to have you here."

Harry wasn't certain when the atmosphere shifted but it was quite clear to both of them that it had. Suddenly he became acutely aware that half of her body was leaning against him, aware of how close her face was to his, aware that they were drawing even closer and he wasn't sure which of them was actually moving.

Then he felt her lips touch his--light and soft--and he was intensely aware of a warm sensation spilling through his body. Then she pulled away from him.

She was looking at him intently and Harry wanted to say something but he had absolutely no idea what.

"I never realized," Hermione said, "how beautiful your eyes are."

And she put her hands on either side of his face and slipped his glasses off. She put them on the coffee table and then leaned in and kissed him again. This time he felt her tongue lick his lips and he parted his lips and let himself feel the pure bliss.

The oddest thing about their encounter was that it didn't feel odd at all. They chatted all the way to the International floo station, laughing and talking like they had all week. They never mentioned what had happened but they didn't pretend it didn't happen either.

When they reached the fireplace Harry was to leave from, he turned and smiled at her.

"Well this has been a very—unexpected trip. But I think it's exactly what I needed."

"Me too. In fact, I think I'm ready to come home."

"Really?"

She nodded, pleased that he was pleased.

"I have a few things to wrap up here but, yes, I think it's time."

"Brilliant."

They reached over and hugged one another—a long fierce embrace. Harry had come to see her in pain and now he was leaving feeling rejuvenated.

They pulled away from one another and Harry backed toward the fire.

"Ron's a moronic git," he said and she laughed.

"I love you Harry," she said.

"I love you Hermione," he replied as he stepped into the fire and vanished.

Six weeks passed before someone handed him a cell phone. He looked at it strangely because it seemed so out of place. The wizard who handed it to him looked just as perplexed.

"I was hoping you knew what to do with it."

Harry put it tentatively to his ear, expecting one of the Dursleys because he could think of no one else who would contact him that way. He was extremely pleased to hear Hermione's voice instead.

"Harry?"

"Hermione!" He walked over to a nearby bench to sit down. "How are you?"

There was a slight pause and then in a pseudo cheery voice she blurted: "Pregnant, how are you?"

Harry missed the bench completely and landed hard on his backside.


	3. Decisions & Dragons

Harry tromped trough the jungle at a furious pace and it was all Hermione could do to keep up with him.

"How---" he was saying, shaking his head in disbelief. "How could this have happened?"

"You didn't seriously just ask that question did you?" She replied.

He stopped abruptly and turned toward her, she was moving so fast to keep up with him that she ran right into his chest.

"Ouch. I mean, I _know_ how it happened. I remember how it happened. I remember quite often actually." Then he shook his head free of that thought and turned back on his heel and marched on again. "But this couldn't have happened. We—"

"Did absolutely nothing to prevent it?"

He groaned and finally stopped his march and threw himself onto a fallen log. Hermione had asked that they meet in a private place and the middle of the Amazon jungle was the remotest location he could think of.

"But we're just friends! Friends shouldn't be having children together."

Hermione sat down next to him.

"Then perhaps friends shouldn't have done that other thing we did either."

He groaned and pushed his hands through his hair. That's when a boa constrictor slid by their feet. Hermione gave a cry but Harry didn't even look up. He waved his hand dismissively at the snake and muttered something in Parsel tongue and the snake, looking affronted, moved on.

Hermione watched the snake slither off as she waited patiently for Harry to finish his melt down. Finally he looked up at her.

"What do you want to do?"

"Well, have it of course," she replied matter-of-factly. "These are obviously not the best circumstances but this child will still be a part of me and you."

He nodded, unexpectedly relieved with her answer. Then something else suddenly occurred to him.

"My God, Hermione, what are we going to tell Ron?"

"Nothing." She said briskly. "We don't tell Ron. We don't tell anyone."

"What do you mean?"

She looked truly worried now. She opened her mouth and spoke very slowly, very softly.

"Harry, I don't think it's a good idea to tell anyone that this child is yours."

Harry pulled back from her like he'd been bitten.

"Why not?"

"Harry," she said quickly. "Your life is dangerous. There are people who would like to see you dead for defeating Voldemort. There are people who would—"

"Want to harm my child."

She bit her lip and nodded.

He stood up and began pacing in front of her. His body was rigid with anger. She could see his mind working, reasoning. She knew he agreed with her when his shoulders slumped and he turned back toward her.

"Who will you say is the father?" He asked in a raw voice.

She didn't answer immediately and she was staring at her feet.

"Hermione?"

"I—I was planning on going away. From my life in America, I mean. Hide it for as long as I could then leave my job to have the baby and then—"

Her lip was trembling and he had an awful foreboding feeling.

"I have a cousin—"

"No!" He shouted and almost startled her off the log. "No, Hermione! I will not let my child go through what I did."

"Harry, my cousin has two children of her own. She's a wonderful mother. She knows I'm a witch. She knows my child will be as well. I've already spoken to her about it. She's OK with it. It won't be like the Dursley's. I promise."

Harry was trembling.

"I've given this a lot of thought, Harry," she said quietly. "It's the best way."

"You found out you were pregnant yesterday, how could you have given it enough thought?"

"Have you thought of anything else since I told you?"

His shoulders slumped and he shook his head. He walked in circles in front of her for a while and then he let out a demented laugh. He looked at her.

"It was my first time," he said.

She smiled.

"Me too."

"I guess we're not all that extraordinary after all."

The day that Jamie was born was the same day that Harry nearly died.

He and Ron were tracking Draco Malfoy through a Romania country side when they came into a clearing with the largest, fiercest looking dragon they'd ever seen. And somehow Malfoy had put an Imperius curse on it. No one knew how he did it because it was believed that dragons were too strong willed to be influenced by such a curse but there it was, a weapon beyond measure at Malfoy's fingertips.

Ron and Harry tried cursing it with every spell they could come up with but it only seemed to enrage the beast. Then one moment Ron was too slow and the dragon swung his tail and caught Ron right in the chest and sent him flying into the forest. Ron screamed the entire way until Harry heard a sickening crunch and then Ron was silent.

In a small town in Kansas Hermione checked herself into a small local hospital after her water broke during breakfast. She knew labor would be much easier in a wizard hospital but she couldn't take the chance. She had forged documents changing her name but she couldn't risk anyone recognizing her and making a connection with Harry.

The dragon was towering over Harry and he was quite certain he was about to die. He hadn't spoken to Hermione since that day in the Amazon because that is what she insisted. But he could add. He knew she was due any time and as he fired what seemed to be completely ineffective curses at the dragon his only thought was he'd never meet his own child.

Hermione was cursing the day she ever met Harry Potter fourteen hours into her labor. She cursed him, she cursed Ron, she wanted to curse the nurse who kept telling her to breath deep but she'd left her wand at home.

Harry's heel hit a root and he fell backwards, his wand jarring out of his hand. The dragon lifted his legs, big as the Hogwart's towers, and Harry prepared to be crushed. Then a blast from behind him cut through the air and right through one of the dragon's leg's, severing it off at the joint. The dragon reared up in agony and Harry scrambled to his feet. Ron was behind him, barely standing upright. He was clutching his wand with his left hand while his right hung limply at his side. There was blood trickling down his forehead and when Harry reached him he fell to his knees. Harry yanked him back to his feet and forced him to run. Right as they cleared the spot the dragon landed with an earth rattling thunder behind them.

Harry slumped back into Grimmauld Place several hours later, exhausted beyond measure. Ron was at the hospital still. His arm was shattered, he had a skull fracture and several broken ribs but nothing that the wizards couldn't fix. They had wanted to keep Harry there as well but he had insisted on returning home.

He was headed toward the stairs and to his room when he saw the strangest looking owl out of the corner of his eye on the mantel in the parlor. The owl was jet black with talons sharp as razors. When Harry reached for the message tied to his leg he found out exactly how sharp. The owl took a swipe across his hand that drew blood.

"Ow!" Harry cried but then watched with fascination as the owl took it's claws dripping with Harry's blood and dipped it carefully into the small test tube tied to it's other leg. The clear water turned a neon green and that seemed to satisfy the owl. It gave it's leg a shake and the message fell into Harry's hands. Then it took flight out the open window.

Curious, Harry unrolled the message. It was a photograph.

There was Hermione, looking about as exhausted as he felt, sitting up in a hospital bed. She was holding his son. Across the bottom was written: James Sirius Potter.

Harry sunk down onto the floor, staring at the photograph. Hermione kept lifting the baby so he could get a clear look at him. He actually looked kind of like any other baby he'd ever seen, scrunched, slightly misshapen, pink. Except for his hair. He had a full head of dark black, unruly hair.

Harry knew what kind of picture it was. Being an Auror he was use to how it worked. Much like a Howler he knew it would self-destruct in a few minutes so he clutched it, studying every detail, every feature of his son's face, the sad smile on Hermione's face. He held onto it even as it burst into flames and blackened his fingers. He held on to it until it dissolved into ash and tricked to the floor.

And then Harry, sitting alone in the parlor of his home, sobbed.


	4. The Prophecy

"I know about Jamie."

Hermione stood still in the door. She felt like a dementor had sucked all the breath from her body.

"Harry told you?" She whispered.

"Not exactly," Ron said bitterly.

Someone had been trying to kidnap Ginny Weasley. In the first attempt she had fought off the single attacker by herself. For the second attempt he'd brought back up, and if Harry hadn't shown up she would have been dragged off to parts unknown.

Seeing as her entire family was in the Order of the Phoenix it wasn't surprising that the Order made finding her attackers a top priority. But they were having a hard time even coming up with a reason why the Death Eaters were focusing on Ginny. The only theory that they had was that they wanted her because of the brief time she spent possessed by Tom Riddle. It wasn't until they raided Goyle's hideout and found the prophecy that they realized it had nothing to do with that at all.

Harry and Ron were the ones that found sphere with the prophecy in it when they invaded Goyle's hideout. Goyle and his friends had cleared out just before they arrived but they had left behind the sphere in their haste to escape.

Harry, more then anyone, knew the significance of such a sphere so they immediately took it to Dumbledore. They went to an isolated chamber at Hogswarts with only Ron, Ginny, Harry, Professor Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall present. Dumbledore tapped the sphere with his wand and sparked a revelation none of them expected.

Somehow not surprisingly, it was once again Professor Trelawney in one of her rare moments of actually seeing the future. She was talking in her possessed voice: "It is the father that will destroy the dark lord but it is the child that will banish his followers and bring about peace to the wizarding world."

Ron blinked when he heard the prophecy. She may as well have been speaking another language for all the sense that it made. Harry had destroyed Voldemort but the rest made no sense at all.

"Well that's total rubbish," he said aloud. "Harry doesn't have a child."

He turned and looked at Harry, expecting him to look as perplexed as Ron was but instead Harry was staring straight ahead. His face had gone a gruesome gray color and he was gripping the table so hard that his knuckles had turned white.

"Harry?" Dumbledore said quietly.

Harry opened his mouth to speak but he looked as though something was caught in his throat. Finally he closed his eyes and said: "I have son."

The room burst into gasps and remarks of disbelief but Ron's voice was the loudest.

"When the bloody hell did that happen?" He demanded, turning an accusing stare at Ginny. She and Harry had been dating for two years and although Ron logically knew that he would have noticed if Ginny had had a child in that time it was still the first assumption that he made. But when he saw the stricken look on Ginny's face he realized this was all news to her as well. He looked back at Harry who was still staring straight ahead.

"He's three."

"And you didn't mention it to anyone?" Ron demanded, wounded. How could his best friend have a child—a child?!—and not tell him?

"Jamie's mother," his voice caught. "Jamie's mother knew that if anyone found out that I had a child it would be in danger so she insisted that we hide him."

"Potter," McGonagall said gently. "Where is he now?"

Harry's head shot up.

"He's safe."

"Harry," Dumbledore said. "It is obvious that the attempts on Ginny's life were made because the Death Eaters believed that she was the mother of this child. They know this child will lead to their demise. It is imperative that he be protected. Only the people in this room can insure that."

Harry looked like he was in physical pain. And Ron realized, Harry was staring ahead so as not to look at him. Harry swallowed hard. "He's in America."

And then it hit Ron.

Much like a sledgehammer to the back of the head would.

"I take it that his mother is a witch?" McGonagall was saying.

"I take it that his mother is Hermione!" Ron heard himself growl and he watched Harry flinch. Slowly Harry turned his head and looked at him. He nodded slowly and that's the last thing Ron remembered.

After that he could only hear blood rushing through his head and all he could think of was how he had stood in Harry's shadow since the day they met. Harry had everything-- money, fame, talent, and that had been fine with Ron. But Hermione had been his. His. Hermione was the one thing that Harry couldn't have.

The next thing Ron knew a blast came out on somewhere and he was thrown back against the chamber wall.

"That's quite enough Ron", Dumbledore said quietly, standing above Harry who was sprawled on the floor looking horrified and bloodied. Ginny immediately rushed to Harry's side and that only angered Ron more.

"She was mine!" Ron shouted. "You knew how much I loved her. You knew!"

And suddenly anger flared in Harry's eyes.

"And you threw her away," he shouted.

Ron shook his head and turned and stalked out of the room. Harry called after him but he ignored him.

Hermione swallowed hard.

"Well," she said in a dry voice, "Jamie happened a year after you dumped me Ron. You were quite threw with me by then, weren't you?"

"My point," Ron replied sharply, "is that you cannot deny that you love him when you had a child with him, can you?"

Hermione turned back toward him, anger bursting in her chest.

"Is that what this is about? You came all this way to say I told you so?" Her fists were clenched and all the computers in the room started flickering. "Well if it's the truth you want, fine, here it is. Harry Potter is brave, and clever, and handsome, and he has been there for me in the darkest times of my life without fault. But do you want to know what the truly pathetic thing is? It's _you_ that I love! It's you that I've always loved!"

She shouted it at him like a curse and then she turned heel and stormed out of the room. She was headed back toward her office, trembling with rage. Once again, with barely any effort, he had destroyed her life. Destroyed her carefully developed muggle alias--all of her efforts to stay anonymous , all her efforts to hide her son, all her efforts to flush Ron Weasley out of her heart.

He had no idea he was taking his life into his hands when he grabbed her by the arm and swung her around. She opened her mouth to shout at him and he did the one thing that always quelled their arguments. He leaned in and he kissed her.

Hermione felt her back hit the wall.

No, dammit!

But he had the same effect on her that he had all those years ago. His kisses were still awkward, slightly sloppy, and he never seemed to know what to do with his hands but he was her Ron and she felt the anger drain from her like someone had pulled a plug. She put her hands on his shoulders, still weakly planning on pushing him away, only to feel muscle that hadn't been there when they were younger and she felt a pang yearning. She felt herself kissing him back, wanting to remember what he tasted like. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and he sprang back away from her.

He looked like he was horrified at what he had just done. Like he had crossed a line he had sworn never to cross again. He took a step back and then another, and then he turned and ran down the hall.

Hermione was still leaning against the wall and she felt like if she hadn't been she would have fell over. Her body and her mind were completely drained. He had touched every nerve she had. She slipped down to the floor. Amanda came running up to her.

"Are you all right?" She asked.

Hermione tipped her head back and laughed. Because, really, what else could she do?


	5. Repercussions

Amanda was amazed when she pulled into work the next day and saw Hannah's (or was it Hermione's?) car in the parking lot. If she'd suffered all the drama Hannah had the day before she wouldn't be seen for at least a week. Considering how private Hannah was it must really have been a devastating experience for her.

What surprised Amanda even more was when she climbed out of her car and noticed that Ron was sitting on the ground next to Hannah's car, leaning against it.

"Uh, hi," Amanda said, startling him. "You know we have stalking laws in this country don't you?"

Ron's face started to turn an impressive shade of red as he scrambled to his feet.

"I'm not stalking her."

"Any reason why you're out here, then?"

"I--I just thought that if I went inside I might come back out in bits and pieces."

"You'd probably be right. Humiliation tends to make us girls grumpy."

Ron looked truly distraught now and she almost regretted saying it.

"I didn't mean for any of that to happen. I just—she makes my crazy."

"I get the impression you had a head start in that department, cowboy," Amanda said and that made him grin slightly. "You know, you might want to give her some time to cool down before you apologize—preferably with roses and diamonds."

"I'll keep that in mind," he replied and as Amanda headed inside she noticed Ron curiously sit back down next to Hannah's car to wait.

Amanda had barely gotten to her desk before she heard about six rumors regarding Hannah and the explosion of emotion that had occurred the day before. The prevailing rumor seemed to be that Ron had gotten so jealous over Hannah's affair with that Harry guy she had fled the country and changed her name in fear of her life. That sent Rose, the receptionist, into hysterics because she was sure he would come back with the intentions of going postal on everyone in the building. Amanda thought it wise not to mention that the supposed psycho was lurking in the parking lot.

Otherwise, Amanda had to shake her head at the theories. Had anyone else met Ron the week he'd been in the office? How could anyone believe he was a homicidal manic? And she'd just found him sulking in the parking lot and she still didn't believe it. But of all the baseless rumors that she heard there was one that did upset her.

She knocked on Hannah's open door and her friend looked up defensively. She seemed relieved to see it was Amanda.

"Hey," Amanda said. "I hear you gave your two week's notice this morning."

Hannah stood up and started filing some paperwork in her file cabinet.

"Or sooner. I just want to finish up some projects before I leave."

"Listen, Han, if you're going to go just because of what happened yesterday, please don't. I know it's a shark tank out there right now but it'll blow over as soon as someone lets on that Mr. Chandler and Gail in accounting are crunching more then numbers."

Hannah smiled slightly.

"I wish it were that simple. But it's not really about that humiliating display. Its just time that I move on."

Because your cover's been blown? Amanda thought, but she didn't say it out loud. She was dying to know the full story but she wanted to respect her friend's privacy.

"I can't talk you into staying?" She said instead.

Hannah shook her head.

"Well then let me take you out tonight. We can hit Clockwork. It's salsa night."

Hannah smiled but shook her head.

"Come on," Amanda persisted. "Salsa night means Carlos will be there."

"Carlos?" Hannah replied. "You mean that dance instructor with the really bad Spanish accent?"

"Carlos, the hottie-who's-been-eyeing-you-for-weeks-dance-instructor-with-the-really-bad-Spanish-accent."

Hannah laughed. "Don't you have a date with Drake tonight?"

"Yeah, but I can let it go."

"Really?" Hannah said, eyebrow raised. "The man who lavishes you with roses and expensive jewelry?"

"Yeah," Amanda said with a shrug. "He tries to hard."

"Hmph. I'd like one that tried at all."

"Speaking of which, you are aware that the drama king is in the parking lot."

Hannah's eyebrows knitted.

"He is?" She walked over to the window and peered out over the cars below. Amanda walked up behind her and they both spotted him leaning against her car. "I would have thought he'd be in London by now. Why would he stay?"

"Three guesses," Amanda said. "First two don't count."

Hannah shook her head. "You know what? I think I will go with you tonight."

"Really?"

"Yes, the past week I've been reduced to the emotional state of a thirteen year old. I've grown up while Ron Weasley has been ignoring me. Now I think I'm going to ignore him and see how he likes it."

Hermione was determined to have a good time. Even if it killed her. She'd gone to Clockwork with the girls from the office a few times before but she'd always been too uptight to really enjoy herself. She was the one with the secrets, the extreme privacy, the killjoy. She hardly had anything left to hide any more and discovered it was quite freeing. She'd be starting a new life again soon: a new identity, a new job, a new set of secrets. But for right now she could almost be who she really was.

Clockwork was much warmer and much more crowded then Hermione remembered. She and Amanda managed to squeeze around a small table near the dance floor. The Salsa music was already thumping like a heartbeat throughout the room; entangled bodies were already moving rhythmically back and forth on the floor. A cocktail waitress came by and Amanda ordered margaritas for the both of them. Hermione leaned over and yelling above the music.

"Amanda, I don't drink!"

"Of course you do!" She shouted back, glancing over the crowd and moving her shoulders to the music. "You had some at the Christmas party last year!"

"That was half a glass of watered down wine," Hermione stressed.

"What's the difference?" Amanda asked as the waitress returned and planted the overflowing drinks in front of them.

"The last time I had more then I should have I shagged my best friend!"

Amanda paused a moment and then burst into laughter. She lifted her glass and gestured for Hermione to do the same.

"I promise, I will be here to watch your back. Positively no shagging no matter how falling down drunk you get."

"Why does that not reassure me?" Hermione asked, carefully sipping from her glass.

When she drained it ten minutes later she actually let Amanda drag her onto the dance floor.

"Come on," Amanda gushed, "Carlos is at the turntable!"

Hermione had only been dragged onto the dance floor once before and she'd felt like a stiff robot the entire time. But now, with a little alcohol in her she felt a bit more relaxed. She took off the jacket of her suit and some of her hair slipped out of her carefully contained hairstyle. She hadn't had the time to have it straightened in a while so the strands cradling her face were now slightly curled .

"Come on ladies!" Carlos was saying into his microphone. "Tonight I'm going to teach you the Meringue!"

As Hermione looked around the crush of women on the floor she realized that quite a few were panting after Carlos. She regarded the man and just couldn't see it. Then he started up the music and started purring instructions in that awful accent.

"All right, on your tip toes. Use your knees. Now add the hips…"

From his dark corner near the bar Ron was watching.

Why of all places would she go dancing?

Ron had fallen in love with her twice when there was dancing involved. The first time had been at the Yule ball when she had gone with Victor Krum. He'd been too immature or stupid, he never determined which, to realize that the sick feeling in his stomach that night had been jealousy. Until she called him on it at the end of the night.

Then in their sixth year one of the girls had smuggled a radio into the common room. No one was sure how to work it so with a sigh, Hermione had put down the book she'd been studying from and she showed them how to use it. Ron had only been half paying attention until some of the girls started dancing around to the hideous noise coming out of the small box. When Ginny grabbed Hermione and the two of them started dancing, suddenly Ron was paying attention. There was some fading light coming through the windows and it struck Hermione like a soft spotlight. She was laughing and he realized in that moment just how beautiful she was.

Now she was dancing again. Her hair was hanging in ringlets around her face, she was flushed and laughing and Ron was feeling the same stirring that he'd felt that day back in school.

Hermione was trying to keep up with the line of people around her that were following Carlos' instructions and failing rather miserably. When she stepped on Amanda's foot while trying to do a sexy side step they both burst into laughter. And that's when she saw him.

Ron was leaning against the bar, arms crossed, watching her. He wasn't smiling, he wasn't scowling but she recognized the way he was looking at her and she felt her skin tingle from the memory. She gave her head a shake and she turned away from him and concentrated on what she was doing.

"Move those hips," Carlos intoned. "That's it…"

Hermione felt herself getting warmer and she was sure it wasn't because of any exertion on her part. She started to shimmy her shoulders with the rest of the crowd. She let her hips sway with the music. She glanced at Ron again and she was struck by how good he looked. He'd filled out a bit and now he didn't look as lanky as he had in school. His hair had gotten a bit darker and his eyes…she felt a shiver run across her skin and she turned away from him. His eyes were still the same.

Amanda nudged her a second before she realized Carlos was standing behind her.

"Excellent," he was saying. "You're much more relaxed tonight." He put his hands on her waist and started guiding her movements.

Whatever, Hermione thought and she chanced another glance at Ron. This time she was startled by what she saw. He had moved away from the bar and was standing rigid, staring at her.

Uh oh, she thought a moment too late. Then some people dancing blocked her view of him and in the next moment Carlos had let go of her and had started retching. Hermione turned and saw the dance instructor bent over, vomiting all over the dance floor.

"Slugs," she said with a disgusted shutter. "Of course."

She turned and stormed over to where Ron was still standing. He was watching Carlos and the mass exodus from the dance floor with a grin.

"Just what are you doing, Ron?!" She demanded.

"Me? You were the one out there being—indecent!"

"Indecent. It was called dancing you idiot. And even if I was, why do you care? What if I wanted to do a strip tease in the middle of the dance floor? How would it concern you in the least?"

"Of course it concerns me! I—I---"

His mouth dropped open and he stuttered for an answer.

Amanda had followed Hannah off the dance floor and was watching the fireworks between Ron and her friend. Deciding it was probably not the wisest idea to interfere, she started looking around the bar. Since Carlos was stricken with some hideous aliment she decided to see who else might be available. But then her phone rang and she looked at the caller ID and sighed. She turned it on: "Hi Drake."

"You have the emotional range of a ten year old!" Hermione shouted, returning to her table to pick up her jacket and her purse. Ron trailed behind her.

"It was a knee jerk reaction," he was saying.

"I knew there was a jerk in there somewhere," Hermione said, pushing through the door to the side exit of the club. But she stopped outside, remembering suddenly that Amanda had driven. "Damn."

Frustrated and angry she turned back to Ron.

"Why did you follow me here?" She demanded. "I did the research you came for, I told you about Jamie, what more could you possibly want?!"

Again, Ron seemed stymied for an answer.

"The same thing that I've always wanted," he replied.

"Which would be—"

And that's when he got struck in the back by a blast that knocked him to the ground.


	6. Reconnections

Author's Note: First of all I would like to thank Dramaqueen for all of her comments and input. Your reviews have really kept me going.

I don't mind writing for just you and me. Really. But if there are others reading this story please let me know. Good, bad or indifferent I'm just interested in hearing from others. I realize that there are 14,000 Harry Potter stories out there and I would be pleased to know if more then one person found this one or not. If not, well then I'm glad that at least one person seems to be enjoying it! J

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"Ron!" Hermione shouted, dropping to her knees beside him. He was on the ground twitching.

"Run," he managed to gasp.

Then disembodied voices filled the air around her.

Mudblood.

Filthy little mudblood.

Or are you a full-blown muggle now?

Hermione looked around her frantically. There were two of them, one coming from each direction, shrouded in dark cloaks, wands pointed at her.

"Run," Ron gasped again and then he bit his lip, trying not to scream, trying not to scare her.

"Like hell," she whispered. She crouched over Ron, shielding him. To the two Death Eaters it looked like she was cowering over his body.

They were wrong.

When she stood up she had Ron's wand in one hand and her own, that she'd hidden in the sleeve of her jacket, in the other.

"Petrificu Totalus!" She thundered into the night and the curse shot out like two crashing waves in both directions. Both attackers were struck simultaneously. Both went rigid and fell like plywood to the ground.

She bent back down over Ron. Their attackers weren't going anywhere but she didn't know if more would show up, so she grabbed Ron, who had stopped convulsing as soon as she disabled the one cursing him.

"Come on!" She shouted.

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Ron was having an odd dream. Hermione was there, calling his name. She sounded upset, which wasn't unusual really, but upset in a different way. There were lights flashing across his face and then there was quiet. He could feel Hermione, close to him, radiating warmth. He could smell her skin and her hair. It was like the five years they spent apart never happened and they were right where they were supposed to be. He thought he heard children laughing in the distance. He reached over to touch her when he saw Harry. He was standing above them.

"I was here first," he said simply.

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Ron woke with a start.

He sat up quickly and looked frantically around the room, his last waking memories flooding back to him. They were attacked and he couldn't help, he couldn't stop it. His eyes scanned the dark room and he found that he was tucked into a large four poster bed. There was a shimmering fabric hanging from the canopy that reminded him of the beds at Hogwarts, only his hadn't been a satiny lavender. He also realized that someone had removed his shirt and his shoes and that there was a luke warm cloth resting on his forehead.

He looked at his side and realized that Hermione really was sleeping beside him. She was still dressed in her clothes from the club, curled in a ball, snuggled up next to him. He'd never seen her sleep before. As he studied her he realized she had streaks of tearstains down her cheeks. He reached over and shook her lightly.

"Hermione?"

Her eyes popped open.

"Oh Ron!" She gasped and she lurched up and threw her arms around him. He let out a grunt of pain but she didn't seem to notice. "I was so worried! I didn't know if I did the right thing by bringing you here instead of a hospital but I thought if we went to a wizarding hospital they might find us there. But then you didn't wake up and—"

She threw her arms around him again and he ignored the sharp pain in his gut. He wouldn't give up feeling her arms around him again for anything.

"I'm fine, Hermione," he whispered into her ear, rubbing her back. "Where are we?"

"My apartment," she replied not releasing her hold on him.

"How did we get here?"

"The Knight Bus, or the American equivalent. It's really rather handy." She laughed in a watery sort of way. She pulled back and looked at him. "I brought you here instead because I have a spell on it. Like the one on Grimmauld Place. They won't find us here but—oh, Ron, I didn't know what they cursed you with, I didn't know—"

And he couldn't stand it any longer. She looked so beautiful, with her eyelashes heavy with tears, her eyes so large and full of concern for him. He put both of his hands on the sides of her face, leaned in and kissed her. She let out a little squeak and then he felt her hands run up his chest, finally circling his neck. When she pushed her hands through his hair he let out a squeak of his own. He started kissing her neck.

"God, I've missed you," he whispered into her ear.

"Then what took so long?" She said, her voice husky.

He started sliding her top off her shoulder, pressing his lips to her skin.

"I'm an idiot," he said, and she laughed even as he felt goosebumps lift on her skin.

"Ron…."

"Um hmmm," he mumbled, and he slid his hands under the bottom of her top, touching her flat stomach. Her whole body shuttered.

"Ron," she said, putting her hands over his to stop them from going any further. "Ron, I need to know…"

Not discouraged, he continued to kiss her neck.

"Ron, please, I'm having trouble thinking…"

"Then don't," he muttered. "You always did too much of that."

With a groan, she pulled away from him. She put both of her hands on the sides of his face so she could look him in the eye.

"Ron, why are you really here?"

Ron blinked.

"What?"

"In America," she said. "I've known for a while that the research you wanted me to do was bogus. Then I assumed you came because you found out about Jamie. But those were Death Eaters, Ron. You're here to protect me aren't you?"

Ron glanced down at his hands. This was _so_ not where he wanted their conversation to go.

"Yeah," he replied. "Bang up job I've done, haven't I?"

Hermione shook her head.

"Why? I've been away from the wizarding community for five years. Why are they here now?"

Ron took a deep breath. He'd come up with the whole research for Dumbledore lie just to avoid this very conversation. He took her hands into his and he told her about the Death Eaters attacking Ginny and about the prophecy regarding Harry's son. The only thing he left out was the altercation he had with Harry afterward. He wasn't ready to deal with that part himself.

Hermione sat and listened to him and her hands started trembling in his. Finally she ripped them away and stood up.

"Where is Harry?" She said in an eerily quite voice.

Ron stiffened.

"Harry?"

"Jamie is his son, Ron!" She cried. "Why isn't he here?"

"He wanted to be," Ron said quietly. "But he got a lead on Malfoy. He thought he should follow it. If he catches Malfoy then this would be over before—" His voice trailed off.

"He is a three year old child!" She shouted. "A baby!"

"And they believe that he will someday put an end to them." He said calmly. "Harry said that even he doesn't know where Jamie is. You're the only person that can tell them where he is, that's why they came looking for you."

"Well they're wrong, because I'm the one person that will _never _tell them where he is!" She put her hands over her eyes and turned her back on him. Ron pulled back the covers and tried standing up. The effort was more painful then he realized but he limped over to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"We'll protect him, no one is going to hurt him, I promise."

"How?" She sobbed.

"We'll take him home. He'll be safe at Hogwarts. Dumbledore will protect him. We can all protect him there."

"Home?" She whispered.

Ron wrapped his arms around her.

"You don't have to hide any more."

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Ron couldn't remember falling asleep but he was extremely disappointed when he woke up and found himself alone. He had held Hermione all night long. It hadn't been the passionate night he had fantasized for most of his adult life but it had been amazing. They had lain curled up on her bed, talking about everything—about Jamie, about the lives they had lived apart--until Hermione had fallen asleep. And just laying there, listening to her breathing, feeling her body pressed up to him, felt perfect. A life he'd passed on, a life, as Harry had angrily put it, he'd thrown away.

As he lay in her bed, remembering the evening, still half in a haze of sleep, he started hearing music.

When love is dead, I'm loving angels instead…

And through it all she offers me protection

When I come to call she won't forsake me

I'm loving angels instead……

He blinked and looked around. All the objects in the room were not doing anything they hadn't been doing before, but the music was coming from somewhere and it was starting to annoy him. He saw his wand laying on the nightstand and he reached for it. That's when he realized the music was louder there and that it was coming from some box that had the time displayed on it.

Well, it should dance or something so we know where it's coming from, he thought in annoyance. He started pushing buttons and twisting knobs and one of them made the music start screeching so loud that Ron had to cover his ears. He looked around in a bit of a panic and finally pointed his wand at it.

"Silenco!" he cried, but with a bit too much vigor because the radio went silent but also started smoking.

He climbed out of bed, still in quite a bit of pain, and shuffled quickly out of the room.

He found himself in the living room, which was in a strangely disarrayed state. There were half-packed boxes covering every surface except for the coffee table that had a map laying on it. Ron peered curiously into one of the boxes and found it was stacked high with photographs. They were odd, though, because none of them were moving. On top was a photo of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. He leaned down and picked it up. It was their final year at Hogwarts. Ron had his arms around Hermione's shoulders while Harry had his arms wrapped around her waist.

Ron felt a lurch of something in his stomach. But he wasn't sure what.

Then he heard Hermione's voice and he followed it into the kitchen. She was standing at the counter with her back to him talking into a telephone and cutting up an onion.

"I'm sorry we left without telling you, we just got caught up…."

She paused what she was doing.

"I was going to say "in our argument", actually."

She laughed.

"No, you kept your promise, there was no shagging."

Ron blinked at that. Had she just said what he thought she said?

"Yes," she continued a little shyly. "There was a bit of that." She turned and caught sight of Ron and she gave a startled shout. Her cheeks started burning. "Uh, no I'm fine, Amanda, I'll call you later." But apparently Amanda said something else. "Yes, he's here. Yes—I will call you later." And Hermione snapped the phone off with a little laugh. "Uh, I called Amanda to explain why we left without telling her last night."

Ron nodded. _Shagging?_

"What?" Hermione asked, blushing further. She turned back to cutting up an onion. "Are you hungry? I'm a horrible cook but I think I can manage an omelet."

He came up behind her and put his arms around her waist.

"Famished," he said and he felt her tremble. He loved knowing he could make her do that.

He realized he was still holding the photo and he set it down on the counter as he started kissing the back of her neck.

"Do you want to see him?" She said suddenly.

Ron pulled back.

"What?"

Hermione was looking at the photograph Ron had set down.

"Jamie," she said.

"Oh," he said, slightly confused. "Yeah."

She reached for her wand and tapped the top of the photo that Ron had set down. The images of he, Hermione and Harry parted like someone was pulling apart a curtain and what remained was the picture of a small dark haired boy. Ron picked up the photo, fascinated. The boy definitely had Harry's shock of brown hair and his eyes, but he was frowning out of the photo with such a look that it made Ron laugh out loud.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"He looks just like you," Ron replied.

"He does not," Hermione said with a frown. "He looks nothing like me."

"Please," Ron said, pointing out the rather disgusted frown on the boys face. "If that isn't a "Ron Weasley, you are a moron" look then I don't know what is."

Hermione looked down at the photo and suddenly laughed.

"He does look a bit put out doesn't he?" She smiled at the picture and then up at Ron. "I've been packing since I got up this morning. I want to leave today." She grabbed Ron's hand and dragged him into the living room. "I'll have most of it delivered and the furniture I thought I'd have Amanda donate to charity."

She sat in front of the map.

"I've also been charting our route."

"Route?"

"Well I don't think we should take a broom or any other wizard methods of transportation to pick up Jamie, the Death Eaters could be watching. So I've charted a route by car. It will take quite a bit longer but I think it's safer."

Ron looked at the map, noting where the final destination was.

"How long do you think it will take?"

"Two days," she said. "We could do it much quicker if we drove all the way through but I think we should vary our route in case we're followed."

Ron smiled. She hadn't changed at all. And being trapped for two days with her in a car actually sounded great.

"You know they don't stand a chance," he said.

"Who?"

"The Death Eaters. I thought you might be rusty after all this time but in the alley—you were brilliant."

She smiled.

"I chose to live like a Muggle, Ron. I didn't become one."

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"I thought you had some projects you wanted to finish up," Amanda said, helping to put some of Hermione's personal items into a box.

"Some things are more important." Hermione replied, casting a quick glance at Ron who was standing at the door.

Amanda glanced at Ron and then back at her friend.

"I expect you to tell me everything, you know," she whispered conspiratorially.

"I'll send you an ow---I'll send you a letter as soon as I get to where I'm going."

"Which is?"

Hermione smiled.

"Home."

Amanda helped her pack the rest of her things and then she gave her a quick hug. As she left the office she passed Ron and gave him a once over.

"Without roses or diamonds," she said. "You must be some magician."

Hermione looked at Ron.

"What did she mean by that?"

Ron took the box from Hermione and he explained to her what Amanda had said the day before in the parking lot. They were laughing about it when they stepped out into the hall. But the laughter was choked off when they turned into the two people standing in the hallway.

It was Harry and Ginny.

Ginny looked beautiful--tall and with her hair braided down her back she had grown into an rather regal look. Harry, on the other hand, looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, his skin was sallow and he looked like he had several bruises fading on his face.

"Harry!" Hermione cried in a gush of relief and delight. She took a step forward to hug him when she felt the crackle of energy. She turned her head and saw the expression on Ron's face and her blood ran cold in her veins. Even before she saw that Ron had pulled out his wand. She looked frantically back at Harry and was sickened to see that he had his wand in his hand as well.

Hermione shook her head. This couldn't be happening.

She and Ginny both screamed: "No!" at the same time and both of them reached for their wands as well.

Seconds later the roof blew off the top of the building.


	7. Shattered

Hermione had had a horrible nightmare. She had stood and watched as her two best friends pointed their wands at one another and tried to kill each other. If she and Ginny hadn't thrown up counter curses she didn't want to think what would have happened. As it was, the curses Ron and Harry had shouted ricocheted off of the shields Ginny and Hermione had raised and they bounced around the hallway like stray bullets until one or both hit the ceiling. The force of the blasts blew the roof off, sending chunks of debris raining down on their heads.

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Hermione tried opening her eyes and she felt like someone was stabbing her in the back of the skull and she knew it hadn't been a dream at all. She burst into tears.

"It's all right," a comforting voice said, patting her hand. _Mrs. Weasley?_

Hermione tried opening her eyes again and the jabbing pain returned but she concentrated on focusing on the woman sitting next to her bedside.

"Ginny?"

Ginny smiled.

"I'm glad you're awake. I've never been in a muggle hospital before and I had no clue what they were doing to you."

Hermione tried sitting up but she immediately felt like she wanted to throw up. Ginny put a hand on her arm and eased her back into her pillows.

"They said you have a concussion. You need to stay still."

Hermione was about to nod but thought better of it. Instead she closed her eyes and asked: "Ron and Harry?"

"Fine," Ginny said in a disgusted voice. "They blow the building up and there isn't a scratch on either of them."

Hermione sighed and opened her eyes again.

"How are you?"

"A bit beat up but nothing serious," she replied.

"I mean about everything else."

Ginny's eyebrows knit in confusion.

"Ron told me that you and Harry were dating. You can't be particularly pleased with me."

"I'm not Ron, Hermione." Ginny replied with a frown. "I realize that what happened between you and Harry happened before I ever entered the picture. I was not happy that he didn't tell me about it but I understand why." She grinned slightly. "Just don't tell him that. I'd rather like him to sweat it out a bit more."

Hermione tried to smile but found the gesture too painful.

"Where are they?" She asked.

"Harry was here until the doctors said that you were going to be ok. He went back to your office to help the local Department of Magical Catastrophes clear up the confusion. He wanted to stay but I thought it was a better idea to keep he and Ron apart. He's really sorry about what happened."

Hermione closed her eyes. She remembered now. Opening her eyes as she lay on the floor of the office, wondering why she could see the sky. Then Harry and Ron's face swam into her view. Ron was standing back, looking petrified. Harry was holding her hand and yelling at her.

"Keep your eyes open, Hermione. You're going to be fine. Just keep your eyes open!"

"The last time he and Ron saw each other it was—ugly." Ginny continued. "I guess he was still angry about it. Ron's out in the hall."

Perhaps hearing them talking Ron chose that instant to open the door. He peered in and saw Hermione was awake and relief washed across his face.

"I heard your voice…."

He stopped when Ginny stood up.

"You are an idiot of astronomical proportions," she said through clenched teeth.

"I wasn't trying to kill him." Ron babbled. "I just wanted to hurt some of his—parts."

"Did it ever occur to you that I like his "parts"?"

Ron made a disgusted face.

"No, but thanks for the visual."

"This isn't funny, Ron! Look at what you did!" She swept her hand over Hermione and instantly Ron's face fell. He rushed over to her side.

"I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just—when I saw Harry again it all came rushing back…." Images in his head since the day Harry had confessed to what had happened. Harry kissing Hermione's neck. Harry running his fingers down Hermione's thigh. Hermione crying out Harry's name... He shook his head, trying to shake the images out. "I just can't stop thinking about---"

"Well you have a problem then don't you?" Ginny said with disdain. She turned and patted Hermione's arm. "I'm going to go find Harry."

Hermione nodded despite the pain and she watched Ginny go, mainly because she couldn't look Ron in the eye. She turned her head away from him and fought to keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks.

"You made it sound like you'd spoken to Harry since you found out about Jamie. You haven't seen him since, have you?"

Ron shook his head.

"Dumbledore told me everything I told you."

"So it was all a lie then."

"Nothing was a lie—"

"The last day we spent together wasn't real at all. It was a fantasy. I should have realized it."

"Hermione, what are you talking about?"

"Harry is Jamie's father Ron. Did you think we'd go home and he wouldn't have any part of our lives?"

"I—I hadn't thought that far."

"I can't do this again, Ron. I can't hand you my heart and have you tear it to pieces. Not again."

"Hermione I wouldn't—"

"Do it again? Like last time? I tried to convince you that Harry and I were just friends and you wouldn't believe me then. Now we have a child and I'm suppose to believe that you don't still believe that? It doesn't matter that you and I were broken up at the time it will always be there. And Jamie will always be evidence of it."

"No." Ron said shaking his head. "Hermione, please look at me."

Hermione slowly turned her head toward Ron. He knew he had to convince her that what he was saying was true. He knew everything was depending on it.

"I swear," he said. "I'll get over this. I just need time. But I want you and I—more then anything else in my life. I'll learn to deal with what happened with you and Harry. I was just shocked to see him. We'll work this out. I won't ever throw what we have away again."

Hermione looked into his eyes.

"I don't believe you," she whispered.

If you could hear a heart breaking then you could hear two splintering in the room just then. Then there was a light tap on the door. Amanda poked her head in and perhaps it was the expressions on both Ron and Hermione's face or perhaps she could hear it but she quickly started backing out of the room.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "We'll come back later."

"No!" Hermione said desperately. "Come in, please."

Ron turned away from them and walked over to the window, pretending to look out as he briskly shoving away tears from his cheeks.

Amanda walked over to Hermione carefully; obviously realizing she was interrupting something.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to see how you were." She leaned into to give Hermione a careful hug and whispered: "And I'm sorry about him. He insisted on coming."

When she pulled away she saw whom Amanda was referring to. He was leaning casually in the doorway. His hair was still white blond, his features still sharp as knives but it was his eyes that she would always, always remember. So cold, so calculating, so deadly.

"Malfoy," Hermione said aloud.

Ron heard her and whipped around but it was too late. Malfoy already had his wand out and he pointed it causally at Ron and fired. Ron flew back and slammed against the window. The glass cracked but didn't break and Ron fell unconscious to the floor. Amanda gasped and threw her hands up but a second later she slid to the floor as well.

With a satisfied nod Drake Malfoy pushed himself away from the doorframe and walked toward Hermione. She looked around frantically for her wand but it was no where in sight. She looked at Malfoy and tried to steel herself for what she knew was coming.

"Drake is a definite improvement on Draco," she said, lifting her chin.

"What's the matter, Granger? You thought you were the only one who could change their name?"

Then he pointed his wand at her and she felt like a knife sliced through her abdomen before she slipped back into dark unconsciousness.


	8. Mind Games

One week earlier…

Harry was throwing clothes at random into a duffel bag. He wasn't paying any attention to what he was doing really; his mind was in only one place.

"You're going to go find her aren't you?"

He stopped and turned to find Ginny standing in the door of his room.

"Yes." He replied. He didn't want to stop; he didn't want to take time out for anything. He had to find Hermione and his son. But he could see the lost expression in her features even when no one else could. With a Herculean effort he put down his fist full of socks and walked over to her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." He said. He reached for her hands but she pushed away from the door and walked passed him into the room. "It was for Jamie's protection. Hermione knew that one day---this day, I suppose--would come."

She walked over to his suitcase and fingered some of his clothes.

"You can't go," she said, and Harry felt his heart lurch in his chest. Please tell me she's not going to make me choose. But Ginny continued. "Dumbledore just received word that Malfoy has been spotted in South America."

Harry cursed under his breath. He had to protect his son and his best friend. But he knew that Malfoy was behind the entire plot. It reeked of him. If he could capture him then Hermione and Jamie would be out of danger.

Ginny could apparently see the inner struggle Harry was having.

"Dumbledore said that he'll send someone to look after Hermione if you want to go after Malfoy. They'll be safe, Harry."

Harry wanted to protect his family but he knew that he could track Malfoy better then anyone else. He's the only one that ever even got close. But he'd never seen Jamie except for the rare photographs that Hermione would send. The last of which he missed because Ron had found the owl before he had and before Harry could stop him it had scratched Ron, gotten a negative blood match, and flew out the window. Harry didn't speak to Ron for a week after that and Ron never did understand why.

Harry wanted to see his son more then anything.

Bu the wanted to protect him more.

He reached into his suitcase and handed Ginny a glass ball.

"A Remembrall?"

"Hermione gave it to me. It's actually a locator, disguised as a Remembrall. It'll find her wherever she is. She told me to only use it in an emergency. Give it to Dumbledore, he'll be able to find her with this."

"We'll both drop it off before we leave."

"No---"

"That bastard tried to kill me Harry, I'm going with you." She crossed her arms and lifted her chin and he knew there was no point in arguing with her. She saw his defeated expression and she dropped her arms to her side. "And when this is all over I'd like to meet your son."

Harry smiled sadly.

"So would I."

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Harry stood in the hospital room and it took everything in him not to scream. It wasn't so much the blood on the shattered window or the chaotic state that the room had been left in. It was more the fact that it was empty. Completely devoid of everyone he loved—Ginny, Ron, Hermione. And with them the only key he had to his son.

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Hermione hadn't seen many horror movies but she was pretty sure that she woke up in the middle of one. When she opened her eyes she found herself in a room completely constructed of concrete. _No one can hear you scream_. Her arms were tethered to the wall above her head and Ron, still unconscious, was strung up next to her. Across from her she saw Amanda. Obviously Malfoy didn't think of her as much of a threat because she was lying unconscious on a dilapidated couch, not bound at all.

Hermione scanned the room frantically for a way out, even as she tugged at her arms to try and free them. But her bonds held firm and a few seconds later the single door in the room opened. She suppressed a shuttered when she saw Malfoy walk in with a smug grin on his face.

"Well, good to see you're awake Mudblood. You and I have lots to talk about."

Hermione desperately tugged at the bonds around her wrists as Malfoy walked closer but they didn't give at all. Malfoy came up to her and grabbed her chin in an iron grip.

"Why don't we start with: where is your little bastard?"

Hermione didn't hesitate to spit in his face. He didn't hesitate to slap her.

"Oh good, I was hoping you would make this difficult Granger. It'll be much more fun this way." He said, wiping his face.

"You may as well kill me now," Hermione warned. "Because I won't tell you where he is, Malfoy. I will never tell you where he is."

Malfoy looked straight into her eyes.

"I believe you Granger," he said. Then he walked over to Ron. "But I'm willing to wager your boyfriend just might."

Malfoy prodded Ron with his wand and muttered a curse. It seemed to send a current through Ron, who's body shook before his eyes opened and he let out a choked scream.

"He doesn't know where Jamie is!" Hermione cried and for the first second or two, believed it. Then she remembered the conversation that she and Ron had about going to retrieve Jamie.

He'd looked down at the map. The address wasn't there but the town was. And she had no doubt that Malfoy would simply take out the entire town just to get to Jamie. And killing off a town of muggles would probably just make him that much happier.

"Really?" Malfoy said and she could tell that he didn't believe it for a minute. "Well then how unfortunate for the both of you."

Ron was gasping for air and his eyes were already swimming in pain.

"So tell me Weasley, what must it be like to find out that your girlfriend, such as she is, went off and shagged your best friend?" Malfoy prodded him again with the wand and Ron cried out in pain. "The others, they wanted to go after your sister but I knew better. I knew that if Potter even gave her a proper look she'd be all over him."

"Shut up Malfoy!" Hermione screamed.

"I had no idea where your little Mudblood was hiding though. That's why we let you find the prophecy." Malfoy started pacing in front of Ron, looking like a predator waiting for the right moment to sink his teeth into him. "I knew you'd go after your little know-it-all girlfriend. I knew you'd demand answers. And you did." He leaned forward to look Ron in the eyes. "You led me right to her."

Ron shook his head, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"No…" he whispered.

"So when do you think it started?" Malfoy continued. "Do you think they were doing it back at school? Can't you just picture it? The Gryffindor common room? Maybe she would sneak up to your dormitory and they would get all tangled up in the bed right next to yours. There were so many dark corners at Hogwarts they could have done it a hundred times…"

"You filthy, evil, pathetic coward!" Hermione howled.

Malfoy turned on her.

"Hit a nerve did I? Tell me, Granger, which one was better?"

Hermione kicked one of her feet out and caught Malfoy squarely in the stomach. He stumbled back and hit the ground hard. When he scrambled to his feet he had a murderous look in his eye. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at her.

"And I thought you were the smart one," he said. He then turned on Ron and shouted a curse. Ron threw his head back and started to scream.

"Stop!" Hermione screamed.

"Why? Are you going to tell me where your son is?"

Hermione felt her stomach flip in her stomach. How could she choose between her son and between Ron?

"No," she whispered.

"Then shut up!" He shouted and he pointed his wand at Hermione and if felt like someone slapped her. After that she couldn't open her mouth. Satisfied, Malfoy turned and cursed Ron again.

Hermione closed her eyes but there was no way to close out the screams.

Ron stopped screaming and she heard Malfoy again.

"How must it feel, Weasley? I really want to know. Your beloved Hermione and your mate Potter. Do you think they were laughing at you the whole time? Going over how stupid you were to not even notice when everyone else knew. And now they've spawned a brat. Can't imagine what that must be like. I hear he looks just like Potter. How can you stand to look at him?"

Hermione, eyes still squeezed shut, shook her head.

Ron, please, no. Please, no, please, no, please….

"Do you think he'll take after his dad?" Malfoy said. "Pompous, arrogant, takes whatever he wants, whomever he wants? Will he have everything he could possible want and still want more? Will he want what he shouldn't have? What belongs to someone else? Will he stomp over his best friends just to get it?"

Please, no. Please, no, please, no, please no.

"You must really hate that little bastard."

Ron lifted his head.

"Yeah," he whispered and Hermione's eyes popped open. _NO!_

Malfoy leaned in to Ron.

"Then tell me where he is."

"Who?"

"Jamie," Malfoy said, perplexed.

"Oh, I thought you were talking about yourself," Ron said, and he burst into a demented laugh. "Because Jamie, I love. He's the son of my two best friends and when he grows up he's going to obliterate you and all your pals."

Malfoy looked like his head was going to explode. His face turned bright red and a vein in his temple started to throb. He pointed his wand at Ron and he instantly started screaming again. Hermione couldn't speak but she wanted to will her words to Malfoy.

If you kill him you'll never find out where Jamie is…

After a moment Malfoy stopped, as if he could hear Hermione's pleas. With a grunt, he turned and stormed out of the room. Hermione went limp with relief. Even if it bought them a few minutes it was a few minutes that maybe Harry would find them in. She looked over at Ron. He was hanging limp, sweat dripping from his face. He turned his head slowly toward her.

"I love you," he whispered and she nodded, still unable to speak. "I'll never tell him. I promise."

She nodded again and felt tears streaming down her cheeks.

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Harry was paralyzed. He didn't even know where to start. They were all gone and he had no idea where to start looking for them. He'd tracked Malfoy to this city. He knew he was nearby and instead of guarding Hermione he'd let his lingering anger with Ron explode. He'd blown up a building. Why hadn't he just posted a sign that said wizards on the premises?

"No," he whispered. He started tearing up the room. Throwing things left and right. He had no idea what he was looking for but there had to be something.

"Harry."

He turned. Ginny had apparated behind him.

"Ginny." He threw his arms around her. "What happened? Where is everyone?"

"Malfoy showed up with Hermione's friend. I came back into the room just as he used a portkey to vanish them all."

"I thought he'd taken you too. Where have you been?" Harry asked.

Ginny put her hand out. "I've been looking for this."

It was the Remembrall resting in her palm.

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Since Hermione couldn't speak Ron was doing all of the talking. Her heart ached for him because he was doing his best to reassure her when they both knew it was he who was in the most danger. Malfoy knew that Hermione knew where Jamie was and so he couldn't kill her. But if Ron wasn't going to prove to be the weak link he'd hoped for then he was of no use at all.

"Harry will get here. He's a bloody hero. He's just waiting for a dramatic entrance. Glory hog. Did I tell you the time he saved me from this nasty troll with a fierce disposition?"

Hermione shook her head.

"Well, see there was this troll who thought I had a thing for his daughter…."

"And you would have made a perfect match."

They looked up and Harry came strolling into the room, much like a hero.

"Bloody hell!" Ron cried. "What took you so long?"

"Waiting for a dramatic entrance," he muttered as he walked over to Hermione. He pointed his wand at her and the curse keeping her mouth shut vanished and she opened her mouth and gasped for air. He pointed his wand at her bonds next and they slithered away from her wrists.

"Harry!" she cried and threw her arms around him. He immediately stiffened in her embrace.

"We need to hurry," he said. She pulled away from him and nodded.

"Where's my wand?"

"I don't know," he said, he pointed at Ron's bonds and Ron's hands were free. He started shaking them to get circulation back.

"Where's Malfoy?"

"He left. Probably to go get reinforcements. We should go directly to Jamie, now. We need to get him safe. We'll deal with Malfoy after that."

Hermione nodded, which surprised Ron. She had been so insistent on not being followed before.

"He's still with my aunt," Hermione said.

Harry nodded.

"Good. Let's go."

Ron was just about to ask what they should do about the still unconscious Amanda when Hermione cut him off.

"Harry?'

Harry turned and looked at her. She walked up to him, and to Ron's utter horror, she put her hand on the side of his face in a loving gesture.

"When this is over we're going to work all this out aren't we?"

Harry looked puzzled.

"You and I?" Hermione prompted, and Ron felt his stomach bottom out to about his ankles.

Harry smiled and put his hand on her face.

"Yeah," he said. "You, me and Jamie."

Hermione smiled at him and leaned up and kissed him.

Ron thought he'd been tortured before but that pain had been nothing. Then Hermione jumped back away from Harry and she had his wand in her hand. She pointed it at Harry with one hand while she wiped her mouth with the back of her other hand.

"Hermione, what the hell—" Ron cried, feeling sure his head was going to fall off his shoulders at this point.

"It's not Harry, Ron. It's Malfoy."


	9. Duality

Author's note: Sorry! This chapter is pretty short. It was either make this one really short or the final chapter really, really long.

Thanks to everyone for all of your encouraging reviews! I love reading them!

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"I'm sorry, Ron." Hermione said, still pointing the wand at Malfoy impersonating Harry. "It was the only way I could think of to get close enough to him to grab his wand."

"You must be really familiar with how Potter touches you to have figured it out," Malfoy said with a sneer that made Ron wonder how he ever mistook him for Harry.

"Actually it was when I hugged you," Hermione said matter-of-factly. "You acted as though you'd never been hugged in your life, which I suspect is probably the case. But when I said that Jamie was at my aunt's and you didn't point out the glaring error in that statement I knew."

"Well aren't you just brilliant?" Malfoy said, backing away slowly.

"Don't move, Malfoy." Hermione commanded.

But that's when Harry and Ginny chose to burst into the room. It was just the distraction that Malfoy needed to dive behind the dilapidated couch. If Amanda hadn't still been lying across it Hermione would have blasted the couch. Instead, she and Ron darted toward it. Just as they reached it, Malfoy jumped up with a new wand in his hand.

"Ah, that's where I left it!" Malfoy cried and pointed it at Ron who was closer.

"No!" Hermione cried and she stepped in front of Ron just as Malfoy cursed him. Hermione tumbled back and before she could even scream she fell crashing through the table in front of the couch and went silent.

Ron had always believed that the term "seeing red" was just an expression but when he looked down at Hermione, unconscious on the floor, and he looked back up at Malfoy, his vision was tinged with scarlet. He didn't know what expression he had on his face but the grin on Malfoy's face vanished. Without taking into account that Malfoy was pointing his wand at him now, Ron dived at Malfoy and tackled him.

Malfoy shouted a curse right before Ron hit him and it shot out of his wand just as he was flying backwards. Then Harry gave a shout of fury and he was next to Ron, pounding on their mutual enemy. But while Ron and Harry were acting on their fury Malfoy had maintained his clear head as well as his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" He shouted and both Harry and Ron flew backwards.

Ron flew straight into Ginny, who he realized for the first time must have been hit by Malfoy's misguided curse because she was curled on the floor, trembling.

"Ginny…"

But she shook her head and with great effort pushed her wand across the floor toward Ron. He nodded and took it. Then he turned back toward the room.

"Shit," he muttered.

Harry and well, Harry, were standing pointing their wands at one another. At some point Malfoy must have changed the appearance of his clothes because now the two Harry's were wearing the exact same thing.

"Ron," one of them said, "I'm Harry. I swear."

Ron pointed his wand at one Harry and then the other.

"Ron, you git, it's me."

"Shit," he muttered again. His mind had gone blank. Hermione was lying in a pool of blood and his sister was twitching behind him. He knew the Polyjuice potion would wear off eventually but he didn't have the time to wait. "Jamie! What is Jamie's middle name?"

"Sirius."

"Albus."

Ron nodded and then blasted the Harry on the right. He fell to the ground with a shout. The other Harry reached over and kicked away the wand. Weather it was the curse or it was a weak batch of Polyjuice; Malfoy started to change back into his real appearance. First his hair started developing white blond streaks and then his facial features started to get bonier.

Harry looked up at Ron.

"Why is he still conscious?" He demanded.

"Because if I got the wrong one I didn't want to scar you permanently." Ron replied, turning back to Hermione.

"Wait a minute," Harry said. "You mean you didn't know Jamie's middle name?"

"Not a clue," Ron muttered, leaning down to inspect Hermione.

Harry muttered something Ron was sure wasn't complimentary and turned back to Ginny.

"Hermione?" Ron whispered, touching her face. She didn't respond. "We have to get them all to a wizarding hospital."

"I prefer the morgue."

Ron whirled around. Malfoy, bleeding and shaking was standing behind him with his wand pointed at Ron's chest.

"You should have finished me when you had the chance," he said.


	10. Eventually

Author's note: I'm sorry this last chapter took so long to get out! Chock it up to a vacation, school starting up again, as well as regret for having to draw this story to an end.

Thanks again to everyone for your encouraging reviews. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm thinking of renaming the story Just Friends so don't mistake it for a new story! And if you have any interest in reading anything else I've written I have a couple of older stories, one is an X-Files/ Roswell crossover and the other a Buffy/ Roswell crossover. They're quite dated but probably still worth reading.

Thanks again everyone!

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Ron would wonder, much later, when he wasn't in such a death grip of panic, how he ever became an Auror. In the face of his greatest enemy he had folded like a deck of cards. Sure he was distracted by Hermione's condition but really, how had he not gotten killed up to this point, he had to wonder.

He got the definite impression Malfoy was thinking the same thing as he pointed his wand at Ron with that same smug smile on his face.

"Well Weasley, you have yet to disappoint me. You are truly the saddest sack I've ever met. And I will take great pleasure in killing you."

"You forgot one thing," a voice said.

Ron was staring at the instrument that would cause his death so he hadn't seen her coming either, until he looked up and saw Amanda standing behind Malfoy.

Malfoy turned at the sound of her voice and she swung one of the table legs at his head with all the force she had in her body. There was a satisfying crack when the wood met skull and Malfoy's head ricocheted and looked like it was going to rip off his shoulders for a moment. It didn't, much to Ron's disappointment, and he fell to the ground in a heap.

"Me." Amanda whispered and then slumped back on to the couch, completely spent.

"Are you all right?" Ron asked. "How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough to realize that I've either woken up in some twisted wonderland or I've gone completely insane."

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"Ron," Hermione sighed, "I'm fine."

"I know," Ron said, helping her into her apartment, rather unnecessarily. They'd gone to a wizard hospital and a few potions later and Hermione was cured of her fractured skull but Ron still insisted on doing everything for her. "But the doctors said you should take it easy."

"Ron," she said, and she grabbed either side of his face. "I'm fine." And she kissed him fiercely to prove it to him.

"Uh, huh," he mumbled when she pulled away from him.

She smiled.

"I'm going to take a shower and try and get Malfoy off of me," she said.

Ron nodded, although the visual was rather unsettling.

She walked tenderly into the bathroom and he knew she was still in some pain. He wasn't in such great shape either but his concern for her outweighed his own discomfort. He heard the water start and the pleasant image that filled his head was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. He walked over to it and pulled the door open.

It was Harry.

"Oh, hey," he said.

"Hi, can I come in?"

Ron shrugged and let Harry enter.

"Hermione's in the shower," Ron said.

"Well I came to talk to you," Harry said carefully and Ron instantly felt his defenses go up.

"All right," he said guardedly.

Harry paused a minute and then just pushed through it.

"Ron, I'm sorry that what happened between me and Hermione hurt you. I know how betrayed you must have felt. But—but I'm not sorry that it happened."

Ron felt his fists clench but Harry continued.

"I have a son as a result of it Ron. A son. And I will never regret anything about him."

Ron felt himself relax a little. He nodded.

"And Hermione and I are---"

"Just friends." Ron said, repeating the phrase he'd heard so often lately.

"Ron, it's true. We've never been more then friends—even that time. You realize it was only the one time right? She's only ever loved you. Merlin knows why, but it's always been only you."

Ron grinned a little at that.

"Are we going to be ok?" Harry asked carefully.

Ron paused to think about it. He had had a life without Hermione and he couldn't imagine that life any more. But he also couldn't imagine a life without Harry.

"Eventually," Ron said.

Harry nodded, accepting that.

"Ron?" Hermione called from the bathroom, over the sound of the shower.

"Yeah?"

"Wash my back?"

Harry cleared his throat and Ron started turning red.

"I should go," Harry said, pointing lamely at the door.

"Please do." Ron said.

Ron's hands were trembling as he struggled desperately to get out of his clothes. In frustration he finally just ripped his shirt open, sending buttons pinging across the floor. By the time he pulled back the shower curtain his heart was thundering in his chest.

And then it almost stopped.

Hermione was standing beneath the water, eyes closed, letting the water cascade down her body. Ron had had enough fantasies about her but none of them compared to the real thing. None even came close.

He walked up to her and cupped her face in his hands.

"Do you have any idea how much I love you?" He asked.

She opened her eyes and touched a scorch mark that was healing on his chest. Then she looked up into his eyes.

"Yes," she whispered, and she circled her arms around his neck, pressed her body up to his and she kissed him.

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Harry hadn't been so nervous even when he was facing Malfoy. Or Voldemort, he realized.

"Are you OK, Harry?" Hermione asked, her hand pausing to knock on the door.

He swallowed hard and nodded but he still couldn't form any words. Ginny put a reassuring hand on his arm.

"He's three mate, how scary can he be?" Ron asked.

Hermione elbowed him in the ribs and then proceeded to knock on the door. Harry noticed that Ron was much more courteous to him since his "shower". (He was unaware that Ron had showered twice that evening as well as once more in the morning)

The front door immediately popped open. A medium built Asian man smiled at them.

"Hermione!" He said and he threw his arms around her and gave her a big hug. When she pulled away from him she turned to her friends.

"Brian, this is---"

He stuck out his hand to Harry before she could finish the sentence.

"Harry, yeah, Jamie's the spitting image."

Harry flushed and shook his hand and managed to croak out a: "Hi."

"And this is Ginny Weasley," Hermione continued.

Brian shook her hand and then turned to Ron.

"Ron, right?" He said and pumped Ron's hand. "Come on in. They're in the backyard."

Ron was a little puzzled by that but he followed everyone in. He glanced at Harry who had gone three shades of white.

The backyard, as Harry saw, was more like a back field. There was a yard and then a sloping hill that went on for as long as he could see. Scattered around the yard were toys, bikes, and a wading pool. It was as opposite of the Dursely's home as Harry could imagine.

"We're really going to miss him," Brian sighed and Harry realized for the first time that instead of taking Jamie home he was really ripping him from the only home he'd ever known. Unlike Harry, who had dreamed of escaping the Dursley's, Jamie was going to be removed from a place he had loved with people who loved him. How was his son going to view him_? "Hi, I'm your dad, I'm taking you from everything you know, hope you don't mind."_

Harry felt his stomach clench. He turned to Hermione but she was looking across the yard and suddenly grew a brilliant smile. He followed her gaze and saw what she was looking at. Four people were coming up the hill. One was a woman who looked so similar to Hermione that they could have been sisters rather then cousins. And with her were two girls who were obviously her daughters and then a young boy.

Harry felt his throat go dry.

Hermione's cousin leaned down to Jamie and said something to him and pointed up at Harry. The little boy snapped his head around and started running up the hill, pumping his arms like he was running a marathon. When he was halfway to him he tripped over his own feet and fell flat. Harry went ridged and was about to race out to him when Hermione laughed.

"He's a sturdy thing, Harry." She assured him. And when Harry looked back, Jamie was picking himself up, his knees now covered in dirt, seemingly to not have noticed that he fell and kept running toward them.

"Daddy!" He cried.

Harry caught his breath.

"He knows who I am," he whispered. He turned toward Hermione. "He's knows who I am."

Hermione looked puzzled.

"Of course," she said. "Harry, I didn't want anyone to know who he was. But I never intended for him to grow up not knowing who we were."

"Daddy!"

Harry turned back toward his son and he bent down to the boy's level. His tentative speech of introducing himself flew out the window as Jamie, arms wide, launched off the ground and into Harry's arms.

Harry thought he was going to pass out. He'd never felt so light headed, exhilarated and terrified all at the same time as he did as he clutched his son to his chest. Jamie pulled back.

"Are we going to go to Hosworth now?"

"Hos--? Oh, Hogwarts, would you like to go there?"

Jamie nodded and threw back his head and shouted "Ha, ha, ha!"

Harry laughed right along with him.

"Uncle Ron," Jamie said a few minutes later, reaching for Ron who awkwardly took hold of the small boy who was reaching out to him. "What color are your eyes?"

Ron looked at Jamie, fascinated for a minute. "Um, blue."

Jamie nodded, satisfied then reached over to Ginny.

"What color are your eyes?" He asked her.

Ron passed Jamie off to his sister and then glanced at Hermione who was smiling big with tears in her eyes.

"Why does he know who I am?" He asked.

"Let me show you Jamie's room."

She led him down a hall and opened a door. Ron gasped when they walked into it. Instead of the muggle room he expected, the room was painted dark blue with a castle mural that resembled Hogwarts. There were stars on the ceiling that twinkled merrily. Ron walked over to the mural and looked closely. There were people moving within the windows. He could see Hagrid walk out of his hut. He stood up and saw a familiar picture on the dresser. It was the picture of he, Harry and Hermione; the same one that had been at Hermione's apartment. Only this one moved. Harry waved out of the picture and Hermione snuggled into the side of Ron's neck.

Hermione came up behind him.

"Your son knows who I am," he said.

"Of course, Ron," she replied, "I never dreamed of a future that you weren't in."

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_Three years later....._

Hermione crossed the lawn of the Burrow as she read the letter she'd received from Amanda. Hermione smiled, even as she tipped her head left to avoid a low flying snitch. She didn't look up from the letter as she tipped her head the other way to avoid the low flying broom that soon followed it. She was well practiced in maneuvering the Weasley's over-occupied lawn.

She finished the letter and was folding it when Ron flew up next to her.

"What did Amanda have to say?" He asked.

"She got married," Hermione reported. "In Las Vegas."

"Ah, ever the romantic." Ron said, and leaned in to kiss her.

He hadn't quite reached her when a ball bounced off the top of his head.

"Come on Ronnie-poo, break it up. No snogging on the field!" George called from across the yard.

Harry whizzed up next to Ron.

"That was uncalled for!" He shouted, only to receive a ball to the head as well, this one from Fred. The only reason it wasn't a real bludger was because Mrs. Weasley wouldn't allow it. Not that she was fond of them playing Quidditch in her yard at all.

"This is not a pitch!" She bellowed, which sent the George, Harry, Ron and Fred all scattering. "Honestly, it makes you wonder which ones are the adults and which ones are the children," she muttered as she bustled back into the house.

Hermione smiled and picked her way across the lawn to one of the picnic tables Ginny was sitting at.

"How are you doing," Hermione asked.

"I feel like a walrus," she muttered, sending a resentful look up at Harry. "A walrus who swallowed a soccer player."

Hermione grinned as Ginny tried to get comfortable in her very pregnant body.

"I am miserable!" She declared. "Was it like this with Jamie?"

Hermione sat down and looked across the lawn to where Jamie was sitting on a blanket, reading a book that was far too advanced for him but which he tackled with determination anyway.

"No," Hermione replied. "Jamie was a dream to carry. Now the other one...." He gaze drifted down to the small red headed, freckled child sitting next to Jamie who was tugging at his brother's sleeve with one hand and pointing up at the flyers with the other. "Jacob was an entirely different story. I was sick every morning for three months and he liked to do handsprings every chance he got."

"Well isn't that typical?" Ginny muttered, still trying to shift to get into a comfortable position.

"It won't be long now," Hermione reassured her. "Are you still hoping for a girl?"

"I think this family could use some more of them don't you think?"

Hermione turned and looked at her two sons and sighed.

"I'd just be happy with one that looked like me. It seems entirely unfair that I carried them for nine months and neither of them look anything like me."

Ginny got to her feet and said something about going to the bathroom for the twelfth time that day. Hermione leaned back against the picnic table and looked up into the sky. She watched as her husband and her best friend played Quidditch dangerously close by.

Despite all the chaos that generally existed in the Weasley household she felt a wonderful sense of peace. She reflected on the letter from Amanda once again and chuckled to herself about how Amanda had done a thorough background check on her new boyfriend before marrying him. After the Draco fiasco who could blame her?

And even the thought of Draco Malfoy made her smile. She found it beyond funny that as a result of his capture the Death Eaters operation began to fall apart. It seemed reasonable considering Malfoy was the only one among them with a brain. But how poetic that by going after Jamie, the one they thought would lead to their destruction, they fulfilled their own prophecy.

"Dinner is ready!" Mrs. Weasley called which was the one thing that would actually get the adult boys to land. Harry landed near Jamie and Jacob and threw himself on the blanket. Jamie tossed his book aside and tackled his father while Jacob did his best imitation of doing the same, as best a two-year-old could.

Ron descended next to Hermione and she walked over to him and put her arms around his neck.

"Have I told you how much I love you, lately," she asked.

"Only when you wanted something," he replied with a grin. She smiled and began to sway in his arms. She'd learned soon enough that he loved it when she danced. And even as they swayed in the front yard of his parent's house, within full view of most of his family, he still felt a pang of desire ripple through him.

"You definitely want something," he said and she nodded, staring at his mouth.

"A little girl," she whispered before she leaned in and kissed him.

The end.


End file.
